Windows Phone 7’s future revealed: multitasking, IE9, Twitter

After a long wait, Microsoft is finally talking about the future of Windows …

At the Mobile World Congress today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Windows Phone director Joe Belfiore showed what to expect from Windows Phone 7 later this year. We finally have a timeframe for the copy-and-paste update—it will arrive in the first two weeks of March—and we also got a first glimpse at a major update due in the second half of this year. The headline features of this big update are multitasking support for third-party applications and a new Web browser based on Internet Explorer 9.

In addition to copy-and-paste support, the new update includes substantial performance improvements, a better designed Marketplace application—and, it has now been confirmed, CDMA support. It was previously uncertain if CDMA support would be part of this update or if it would come later, which in turn made it unclear when Windows Phone 7 handsets would become available on Sprint and Verizon in the US. Both of those phone companies are due to ship Windows Phone 7 handsets in the first half of the year, and with the update they will be able to do so from March.

Big features

A handful of features that will be included in later updates were also shown off, marking the first time Microsoft has talked about what will happen after the copy-and-paste update. The changes are going to be substantial. The features shown included multitasking with a webOS-style card-based task switcher, the ability for third-party programs to run in the background, Internet Explorer 9 (including GPU acceleration), and Twitter integration into the People hub. Also included is SkyDrive syncing of Office documents.

IE9 mobile mockup

An update this substantial will do a lot to give Microsoft's platform feature parity with its competitors. The company says that the features shown off today are not all the new version will have to offer. More information, along with details on future SDK improvements, will be revealed at the MIX11 conference in April. The update will be released some time in the second half of the year, with representatives suggesting that it will arrive in the middle of that period—if so, putting it at about a year after the original launch. Microsoft did not rule out the possibility of further updates in the interim.

A hint of what might also come in the future was shown in a game demonstration of a Windows Phone game interacting with an Xbox 360 with Kinect game. Though it was made clear that this was a technology demo rather than a specific commitment to deliver similar software, it shows the kind of scenarios the company is thinking about as a way of leveraging the strength of its Xbox ecosystem on the phone.

The copy-and-paste update has been anticipated since the launch of the platform. In October last year, Microsoft confirmed that the first update would include copy-and-paste support, and that it would be available "early" in 2011. A promotional page on Microsoft's website fuelled rumors that the update would arrive in January, as the URL of the page referred to it as the "January update." January came and went without an update, however. Then February 7th was claimed to be the date that the update would ship; it did not.

Why the delay?

That we finally have a date for the update is good news; that it's still a month away is not—especially as it seems the software is ready and has been ready for some time. Microsoft officials tell me that the "January update" appellation was somewhat accurate, insofar as January is when the update shipped to OEMs and carriers so that they could test it.

Firmware for the HTC 7 Pro, a forthcoming CDMA handset, has leaked, and their operating system is identical to the emulator operating system in the SDK update that shipped earlier this month. This is a strong indication that the final code has been available for some time, and the hold-up is being caused either by OEMs or carriers—meaning that the disappointing answer to the question of whether carriers can block Windows Phone 7 updates may very well be "yes."

WP7 users, welcome to the carrier update swamp that un-rooted Android users inhabit. Unfortunately there's no way to get WP updates except through the carrier. The carriers and manufacturers really need to be taken out of the software equation on smartphones.

that is what like Apple use to say to Microsoft. But, please man, multi-tasking, webOs style card-based task switcher and the ability for third-party programs to run in the background? Who do you think is copying?

that is what like Apple use to say to Microsoft. But, please man, multi-tasking, webOs style card-based task switcher and the ability for third-party programs to run in the background? Who do you think is copying?

sick and tired of these MS hired shills.

Copying a good idea is alot smarter than reinventing a bad one. There are only so many ways to efficiently do these tasks without them being similar.

If I remember from the original talking points MS did intend to give the carriers/handset companies time to test an update prior to release, and to delay a release past the intended consumer release point by upto one additional month if they needed more time to test. Planning a month minimum for official testing (or even a month for each party) doesn't seem unreasonable to me. I wouldn't start worrying much unless the updates are still missing from phones in April. Even the fastest OEMs are a month or two behind Google in deploying Android updates afterall.

You can be sure that any operating system that Microsoft is using supports multitasking. The question is simply whether they want the user interface to allow more than one application to be run at once and what kind of UI they want to provide to users to switch between the programs. The phones support general purpose operating systems. But the phone has limited real estate on its screen and also to some extent limited real memory. The trick is what kind of navigation works well with the screen and multitouch and what the implications are for resoruce useage.

Why doesn't Microsoft just make their own WP7 Phones? It is not like they have no experience designing and manufacturing their own hardware

Beyond the 360 they really don't have much outside of the software and peripherals. Unlike your glorious Apple, MS rarely seems interested in being an all-in-one solution. I would agree though that in this case it might be a good idea for them to do that if they could actually pull it off.

It seems really odd to me how the carriers can block updates, seeing as they aren't even UTA. If there are specific aspects that they NEED to test that's one thing, but otherwise it's just an extra step.

USONOFA wrote:

that is what like Apple use to say to Microsoft. But, please man, multi-tasking, webOs style card-based task switcher and the ability for third-party programs to run in the background? Who do you think is copying?

Aren't those basic features you see everywhere that lots of people demand? Not sure I would call that copying so much as trying to meet expectations. Though in things like this everyone has to copy everyone to try and not lose out on sales to a degree.

Also that game demo is interesting... Maybe the new Steel Battalion will have an option to let you control the mech using 5 or 6 WP7 phones. Seriously I'm curious how that functionality will show up. Partly because it would have to be optional.

that is what like Apple use to say to Microsoft. But, please man, multi-tasking, webOs style card-based task switcher and the ability for third-party programs to run in the background? Who do you think is copying?

sick and tired of these MS hired shills.

You're right, adding features people want is a terrible idea.

It's good to know what they're planning for updates but I really wanted to see more updates make to the Zune app. It's serviceable but lacks a lot of features and seems pretty limited, which is surprising considering how good the ZuneHD was

that is what like Apple use to say to Microsoft. But, please man, multi-tasking, webOs style card-based task switcher and the ability for third-party programs to run in the background? Who do you think is copying?

sick and tired of these MS hired shills.

I'm sick an tired of these paranoid arseholes! The evil multinational companies aren't paying legions of people to try and convince you to buy something.

This 'joker' was quick of the mark, funny and drew on previous memes. Fucking relax!

And now they get kicked by carriers as well who don't want updates out leaving their platform look older than it really is. Time to market is everything in software.

It's their image and their product that get tarnished, not the OEMS, not the carriers.

Every step MS products has to go through before reaching the consumer seems to make drastically worse. And it seems they never quite got it, or they feel helpless are afraid of doing hardware. Maybe the xbox360+kinect will change their fear of hardware. The design is still crap though. But that is easy to improve incrementally.

It's good to know what they're planning for updates but I really wanted to see more updates make to the Zune app. It's serviceable but lacks a lot of features and seems pretty limited, which is surprising considering how good the ZuneHD was

The only feature that matters to me that's missing from WP7 that the ZuneHD has is on-device SmartDJ. The lack of it specifically bothers me to no end.

That aside, with IE9 and multitasking support coming this year, this update fixes the major holes in the OS. Aside from some minor things like custom ringtones, of course, that I'd like to see fixed or added as well.

MS seems to be shaping up with this, but honestly, speedier updates would certainly be preferred.

WP7 users, welcome to the carrier update swamp that un-rooted Android users inhabit. Unfortunately there's no way to get WP updates except through the carrier. The carriers and manufacturers really need to be taken out of the software equation on smartphones.

You mean except for through Zune?

The carriers are not a bigger problem for WP7 then it is for Android or IOS. And neither is the manufacturers.

When I was an Android user, I'd regularly blame Google for the lack of updates on the platform. However after (seemingly) getting screwed out of a major WebOS update on my Palm Pre Plus, I've come to the conclusion that no one gets updates right except Apple.

With that in mind, I'm not sure if it's fair to highlight "lack of upgrades" as a deficiency of a particular platform. It seems to me that carrier managed upgrades are going to be the norm. Since this isn't a change in position and most of us never saw device upgrades prior to iOS, it seems a bit pointless to be complaining about it now.

WP7 users, welcome to the carrier update swamp that un-rooted Android users inhabit. Unfortunately there's no way to get WP updates except through the carrier. The carriers and manufacturers really need to be taken out of the software equation on smartphones.

You mean except for through Zune?

The carriers are not a bigger problem for WP7 then it is for Android or IOS. And neither is the manufacturers.

I don't think you understand how any of this works. If a carrier blocks an update, it will not become available through Zune. If you can't get it through Zune, you can't get it at all.

For Android, if a carrier blocks an update, a half dozen different mods will be available within 1-2 months and you'll be able to root and flash the update manually.

The ZuneHD was a great piece of industrial design. Sure it had a couple flaws—the weird black plastic sandwiched bit and the lack of volume keys—but it was one of the few gadgets in the same space as Apple's work that looked both as good and very different from Apple hardware.

Given that making money on selling the phone is worth way more than the money they make per license (say 20 bucks a copy of WP7 versus, what, a couple hundred per iPhone?) then making the ZunePhone should have been a no brainer. Oh well. Nokia? Make me a good looking WP7 handset.

And now they get kicked by carriers as well who don't want updates out leaving their platform look older than it really is. Time to market is everything in software.

It's their image and their product that get tarnished, not the OEMS, not the carriers.

Every step MS products has to go through before reaching the consumer seems to make drastically worse. And it seems they never quite got it, or they feel helpless are afraid of doing hardware. Maybe the xbox360+kinect will change their fear of hardware. The design is still crap though. But that is easy to improve incrementally.

For the same reasons that people shout : "F*#k M$, all they do is abuse their monopoly position!!!!11!! Aarrrggg"

WP7 users, welcome to the carrier update swamp that un-rooted Android users inhabit. Unfortunately there's no way to get WP updates except through the carrier. The carriers and manufacturers really need to be taken out of the software equation on smartphones.

You mean except for through Zune?

The carriers are not a bigger problem for WP7 then it is for Android or IOS. And neither is the manufacturers.

I don't think you understand how any of this works. If a carrier blocks an update, it will not become available through Zune. If you can't get it through Zune, you can't get it at all.

For Android, if a carrier blocks an update, a half dozen different mods will be available within 1-2 months and you'll be able to root and flash the update manually.

For iOS, carriers can't block updates.

It's pretty easy to root a WP7 phone. Most likely, there will be home-brew solutions to any updating morass.

that is what like Apple use to say to Microsoft. But, please man, multi-tasking, webOs style card-based task switcher and the ability for third-party programs to run in the background? Who do you think is copying?

sick and tired of these MS hired shills.

I'm sick an tired of these paranoid arseholes! The evil multinational companies aren't paying legions of people to try and convince you to buy something.

This 'joker' was quick of the mark, funny and drew on previous memes. Fucking relax!

that is what like Apple use to say to Microsoft. But, please man, multi-tasking, webOs style card-based task switcher and the ability for third-party programs to run in the background? Who do you think is copying?

sick and tired of these MS hired shills.

I'm sick an tired of these paranoid arseholes! The evil multinational companies aren't paying legions of people to try and convince you to buy something.

This 'joker' was quick of the mark, funny and drew on previous memes. Fucking relax!

Oh yes they are, its called astroturfing, and microsoft is pretty much expert on this. They know the power of "viva voce" word of mouth like what this site is talking about --> http://bit.ly/ca7rUk

WP7 users, welcome to the carrier update swamp that un-rooted Android users inhabit. Unfortunately there's no way to get WP updates except through the carrier. The carriers and manufacturers really need to be taken out of the software equation on smartphones.

How can you take the manufacturers out of the equation when they are the ones making the phones? If a manufacturer adds supposed-value-added customizations to a phone, they (and their customer) probably don't want a Microsoft update to wipe-out their changes and revert to a generic WP7 phone.

Ditto for Android.

Apple doesn't have that problem since they control both the hardware and the OS.

Microsoft can't force the handset manufacturers to release upgrades in a timely manner (or at all), so the end-user is stuck waiting for their the manufacturer or the carrier.

Why doesn't Microsoft just make their own WP7 Phones? It is not like they have no experience designing and manufacturing their own hardware

This way the carrier and OEM are taken out of the equations. It is also a major reason I am staying with iOS.

I'm thinking that's where Nokia is going to come into the equation down the road.

Lol. Thanks, I needed a good laugh.

There is a reason Nokia sells more phones than anyone else, but hardly anyone in the US has even heard of them. Nokia tried to do an end around the carriers, and failed miserably. They have not forgiven it ever since.

that is what like Apple use to say to Microsoft. But, please man, multi-tasking, webOs style card-based task switcher and the ability for third-party programs to run in the background? Who do you think is copying?

sick and tired of these MS hired shills.

I'm sick an tired of these paranoid arseholes! The evil multinational companies aren't paying legions of people to try and convince you to buy something.

This 'joker' was quick of the mark, funny and drew on previous memes. Fucking relax!

Oh yes they are, its called astroturfing, and microsoft is pretty much expert on this. They know the power of "viva voce" word of mouth like what this site is talking about --> http://bit.ly/ca7rUk

I'm not paranoid, I am just informed. now go back to work softies.

You are suggesting that j0k3r is actually paid by or affiliated with Microsoft (read the definition of astroturfing) on the basis of that comment, yet you claim that you aren't paranoid?

that is what like Apple use to say to Microsoft. But, please man, multi-tasking, webOs style card-based task switcher and the ability for third-party programs to run in the background? Who do you think is copying?

sick and tired of these MS hired shills.

I'm sick an tired of these paranoid arseholes! The evil multinational companies aren't paying legions of people to try and convince you to buy something.

This 'joker' was quick of the mark, funny and drew on previous memes. Fucking relax!

Oh yes they are, its called astroturfing, and microsoft is pretty much expert on this. They know the power of "viva voce" word of mouth like what this site is talking about --> http://bit.ly/ca7rUk

I'm not paranoid, I am just informed. now go back to work softies.

You are suggesting that j0k3r is actually paid by or affiliated with Microsoft (read the definition of astroturfing) on the basis of that comment, yet you claim that you aren't paranoid?

It's especially funny if you look at the posting history for j0k3r. Jumping into a thread, posting a troll or ridiculous flame, and never entering again is pretty much his MO.

/remember, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you

that is what like Apple use to say to Microsoft. But, please man, multi-tasking, webOs style card-based task switcher and the ability for third-party programs to run in the background? Who do you think is copying?

sick and tired of these MS hired shills.

I'm sick an tired of these paranoid arseholes! The evil multinational companies aren't paying legions of people to try and convince you to buy something.

This 'joker' was quick of the mark, funny and drew on previous memes. Fucking relax!

Oh yes they are, its called astroturfing, and microsoft is pretty much expert on this. They know the power of "viva voce" word of mouth like what this site is talking about --> http://bit.ly/ca7rUk

I'm not paranoid, I am just informed. now go back to work softies.

You are suggesting that j0k3r is actually paid by or affiliated with Microsoft (read the definition of astroturfing) on the basis of that comment, yet you claim that you aren't paranoid?

It's a typical MS hater response. God forbid anybody actually like an MS product (or usually in their case, an M$ product). If you do, you're obviously a shill or an idiot.

Anyway, on topic. Looks good. Heh. I was just thinking this very thing the other day while playing with WP7. They really need an easier way to switch back and forth from tombstoned apps. Right now, it's not the most intuitive thing in the world. Sure the multitasking copies webos, but I really can't think of a better way to do it with a touch screen. I love my TP2 winmo and it's multitasking, but switching between apps can be a little easier. Android is frankly no better.

edit: Blast. From his post history, he might actually be a troll or shill. Go figure.

The reason I still stick to Windows Mobile is that no OS holds a candle to it when it comes to features. Also, taskmanager and the ability to run two browers at the same time.

As a Windows Mobile user for most of the past 2+ years, I have to wonder: what features are you talking about?

Personally, I don't regret the move to Android (although it is not without it's problems).

A couple of features that Android STILL doesn't have? 1) Force roaming. 2) Folders in the dock (ie Start screen on WinMo) -- at least I haven't figured out how to do that. I'm sure I can come up with a few more if I thought about it.

Android is pretty ehh, for me. I boot it on my TP2 occassionally. I play with the in-laws phone. I've got a spare HD2 laying around that I've loaded and am dual booting WP7 and Android on. I don't find that it's any easier to use or powerful from an OS standpoint than current builds of WinMo+Sense+Co0kie. For all it's customization options, it's still less customizable than winmo. Sure there are more apps, but I find most of them fairly underwhelming. Certain ways it handles things I find annoying (ie Multitasking, but WP7 handles them just as badly).

Oh yes they are, its called astroturfing, and microsoft is pretty much expert on this. They know the power of "viva voce" word of mouth like what this site is talking about --> http://bit.ly/ca7rUk

I'm not paranoid, I am just informed. now go back to work softies.

Ok, first, your link doesn't prove much of anything. It's mostly examples of MS having bloggers or shmoozing bloggers and press, posted by an open source booster. And, a regular MS employee posting wouldn't be an astroturfer, unless it was HIS JOB to post, not simply stating his own opinion that was favorable to his company.

Secondly, the real point is that what you are doing is basically ad hominem. While "jokers" comment was a borderline troll, when you say that someone is paid to say something, you're undermining the individual, not the opinion. So what does that make you?

How can people read this without thinking "Gee, this is super for me! Four totally different smart phone solutions out there all competing for my dollar!"

Does it get much better? Assuming MS and Nokia really can put together a strong competitive platform and get it to market quickly, and HP gets theirs to market when they say they will, then Apple and Google are going to have some work to do, no? Apple will have to fix (at least) its notification system and work to reach some of nice features from MS such voice recognition. I know several MS users, not your typical Ars folks, who swear by the voice control MS has given them.

You mean to document copyright infringements as Microsoft is trying to catch up with features that are available on Android for years?Nah, that's Microsoft-style, Google won't do that - it's enough that nobody gives a flying frog about WP7 in its current pathetic form...

How can people read this without thinking "Gee, this is super for me! Four totally different smart phone solutions out there all competing for my dollar!"

Does it get much better? Assuming MS and Nokia really can put together a strong competitive platform and get it to market quickly, and HP gets theirs to market when they say they will, then Apple and Google are going to have some work to do, no? Apple will have to fix (at least) its notification system and work to reach some of nice features from MS such voice recognition. I know several MS users, not your typical Ars folks, who swear by the voice control MS has given them.

And yet this conversation is driven by the haters...

Holy crap, reasonableness! +1 to you, sir, for thinking a little more objectively. I'm looking forward to having options when I choose my next phone.